Wandering Memory
by Universe Z
Summary: It's been days since Shiro's miraculous return to Team Voltron. Keith is happy to have his friend back, but he's noticed there's something weird about him. Something off. Then, during a mission Keith sees something. Through the Black Lion's eyes, he sees Shiro, hurt and confused, a strange person telling him to remember. But that's impossible. Shiro was back on the Castle of lions.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The black lion had been the first to connect with her paladin. She had been tentative at first, cautious that this new paladin would end up like the last, another monster, but that feeling was gone now. It had burned away the second Black's first connection had been forged with her paladin; he had seen through her eyes and she had seen into his being. She growled as their thoughts became perfectly in sync, their bond only strengthened by the raging battle surrounding them. This was the strongest she had ever connected to her paladin, but then moments later, their two minds became one with purpose. Black roared as she and her paladin streaked towards their enemy, the one that had caused them and the galaxy so much pain.

Black could feel their victory, after so many years that evil was finally destroyed. The triumph in her paladin's mind rivalled only her own, but then - NO! She could feel her paladin slipping away. Black tried to pull him back, but she couldn't, their connection was slowing and she was losing him.

No. Black refused to lose this paladin, the first since she had been betrayed and the strongest connection she had ever felt. Her consciousness reached out as she took control, sending her paladin away to somewhere she knew he could be safe.

Then her paladin was gone, and Black went silent.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Paladins of Voltron had only been fighting for a few minutes, but Keith could already feel the plan coming apart. He clenched his jaw, trying to analyze the situation, trying to see how they could get themselves out of this mess of a plan

"Pidge! Allura! Strafing run! Get those guns out!" He ordered over the comms, pulling Black into a tight turn to get back over to where Lance and Hunk were.

"Hunk! Cover us! Lance, we need to isolate one of those fighters!" The Paladins reported back affirmatively, each lion making a beeline for its task.

 _Here we go_ Keith thought grimly, trying to stick to the plan as much as he could and still try to complete the mission. But the mission was the problem! Team Voltron needed some piece of Galra tech, and the only way to get it was to capture a Galra fighter. But could they fly in cloaked and steal one from the hanger? Apparently, that was too risky, so Shiro decided luring the fighters out would be a better plan. At least they were attacking a small transport and its squadron escort as opposed to a battlecruiser, but the transport was putting up one hell of a fight and the fighters just seemed to keep coming.

"Hunk! The cruiser's charging its main batteries, you need to take them out!" Shiro commanded over the comms.

"On it Shiro!" Hunk replied, immediately banking off to take out the ships main guns, and leaving Lance and Keith to chase down a fighter alone.

Keith cursed under his breath. What the hell was Shiro thinking? Without Hunk, Keith was about to have one hell of a time covering Lance while he chased down a fighter. It seemed like ever since his disappearance, Shiro had been different. Slightly off.

"Keith!" Lance's yell and a sharp nudge from Black were the only things that gave him enough warning to narrowly avoid being hit by a flanking fighter. Keith yanked on the controls, flipping his lion in a 360 to get behind the fighter and shoot its left engine and wing clean off.

"I winged him! Go get him Lance!" Keith shouted as he banked to the side, letting Lance and Red rocket by him to retrieve the prize.

If Lance could get the fighter maybe this mission could be a success, despite Shiro's plan and odd strategic choices. _Remember_ , he told himself _it's because of Shiro we're getting this opportunity at all._

It was true. Shiro's miraculous return had been in a stolen Galra fighter, and luckily for them, Pidge had wanted to keep it, spouting off something about new intelligence like the rest of them couldn't tell she was itching to have some new Galra tech to play with. It had taken her some time, but 2 days ago Pidge had excitedly called them down to the hanger where they had been keeping the fighter and shoved her laptop, screen covered in numbers, in to their faces.

She had discovered Galra fighters had a sort of black box network, each fighter sending data and codes and orders back and forth with other. The box from Shiro's stolen fighter only had information from before his capture, so it wasn't very helpful. But if they could get another box, it could be a treasure trove of information.

 _And so here we are._ Keith thought a little bitterly as he dodged more fighters. _(How many of these things could one transport possibly need?)_ He pushed the lion into a steep dive, deploying the jaw blade and slashing to ribbons the engine of a fighter going after Lance. The crippled fighter was still putting up a fight, but given Red's speed and maneuverability, Keith knew they didn't have to hold out much longer.

Keith pulled Black out of the dive, noticing almost too late the small group of fighters making to attack Allura and Pidge's unprotected flank.

"Pidge! Allura! Behind you!" He called out, speeding towards their position. He was there before either of them could do much more than get out of the way and took out the most threatening fighter with a well-placed shot.

Pidge and Allura had veered around by that point, and the three we're almost through with the group of fighters, when one more appeared from Keith's blind spot, shooting directly at the black lion.

Black took the hit, tossing Keith to the side so hard that he blacked out for a moment, but in that moment, he could feel Black in his mind, willing him to open his eyes and see what she saw. He did, completely trusting the lion, but when he opened his eyes, he didn't see the black lion's cockpit. He was somewhere completely different.

Through Black's eyes, Keith could see Shiro. He could hear the sound of his breathing and feel his pain as Shiro thrashed against shackles binding his limbs to the chair he was sitting in. In that moment, it was almost like Keith **was** Shiro, tied to a chair in a strange place with no idea what the hell was going on.

"Whatever this is, don't do it! Let me go!" He could hear his own voice, no, Shiro's voice shout. Keith could feel his confusion and fear as he watched the strange person crouched in front of him. He could hear the words "I'm sorry Shiro" come from her mouth more clearly than he had heard his teammates over the comms during the battle moments ago. Then there was pain again, then nothing.

Keith could feel himself with Black in the between space where her consciousness resided. What he had seen - **being** Shiro in such a moment of fear and confusion had left his heart pounding and his breathing ragged. Keith had seen it, experienced it, but he couldn't believe it, it was impossible. Shiro was back in the Castle of Lions.

 _ **Believe it.**_ Black's voice whispered in his mind.


	3. Chapter 2

"Wait! No! How is this possible?" Keith cried in frustration. "We rescued Shiro. It's over, he's safe!" Emotions whirled around in his head, confusion, sadness. "How many times do I have to keep losing him?" He added, quieter this time.

He had lost Shiro **twice** , both times feeling like something had died inside of him at the loss of the closest thing he had to family, but he had come back. Shiro had come back. Keith had seen him that morning, talked to him. How could he be somewhere else? What other explanation could there be? Keith's thoughts were tumbling over themselves, the implications running through his mind like wildfire.

 _ **Be calm Paladin.**_ Black's comforting purr entered his mind. Keith followed her advice automatically, taking a breath.

"How is this possible?" He asked.

 _ **I don't know.**_ She answered. _**But I know what I saw. So do you.**_

Keith covered his face with his hands as all the emotions he had experienced at Shiro's disappearance rushed back and smacked him over the head with a vengeance. His chest tightened and just kept tightening as one thought ran through his mind over and over and over.

"We left him out there." He muttered, mind turning to a dark place. Shiro didn't really talk about the first time he had disappeared, how the Galra forced him to fight in the arena or how Haggar stole his right arm, but the whole team could see how much it had hurt him. If Shiro had been captured by the Galra **again** , with no one out there looking for him **again** -

 _Oh god, it's just like Kerberos._ Keith thought, edging closer to panic once again. The feeling of Black's warm purr in his mind trying to soothe the sick feeling in the pit of Keith's stomach was the only thing that pulled him away from those thoughts enough to take a breath.

"Black, we've got to find him, bring him-"

"-In! Come in Keith!" It was Shiro's voice that pierced the quiet world Keith and Black shared, and suddenly he was back in the cockpit, half slumped over the chair arm.

"Keith, are you alright?" Shiro's voice made Keith's whole body tense up. It sounded like him, but the plan, Shiro's orders - how could he not have seen it? How could he not have noticed something wrong with his oldest friend?

He did notice. That was the problem. He had noticed and ignored it. Ignored it because he had been so happy that Shiro was alive. So grateful to have him back.

"It looks like we're going to have to tow him back to the castle." Pidge's voice came over the comms. "Allura?"

"I'm on my way Pidge." Allura's voice came over the comms.

"It's okay, I'm fine." Keith said, Pidge and Allura's voices finally shaking him out of the whirlwind of thoughts that had been running through his head. He sat back down in the pilot's chair and grabbed the lion's controls, pulling Black upright from where she had been hanging in space.

"Good." Keith tensed a bit at just the sound of Shiro's voice in his ear. "Lance, did you get the fighter?"

"Yeah! Mission accomplished!" Lance cheered.

The rest of Team Voltron echoed his excitement as they flew back to the hangers, but Keith followed a grimly, knowing the moment he was back on the Castle he would have to start trying to expose his oldest friend as an imposter. 

Keith got away from the rest of the team as soon as he could, brushing off the concerned looks on everyone's faces that seemed to accost him as soon as he landed, and escaping to his room. Pidge had looked a little suspicious at Keith's sudden desire to use an injury as an excuse instead of just pushing past it on the training deck like he usually did, but it didn't matter. It wasn't like Keith could tell her his suspicions, she was too close to Shiro. They all were. Once he could do was sit on the bed and try to force his brain to think logically.

"Patience yields focus." He breathed, Shiro's words taking on a painful twinge given the situation. He pushed it aside and tried to come up with a plan.

He needed to prove that the Shiro in the Castle of Lions was an imposter, and the real one was... somewhere. Keith's shoulders sagged. This wouldn't be easy. The person on the ship was so much like Shiro. It looked like him, sounded like him, acted like him. The only reason he was even considering it was because of the memory Black had showed him. Actually, if Black could show the others what she had shown him, they might just believe it.

"Could you do that?" He asked Black, sending his thoughts through their mental link. "Show everyone else Shiro like you showed me?"

 _ **No Paladin**_ Black rumbled in his mind. _**It's my connection with you that allowed me to show you what he was seeing.**_

Keith sighed. He should have known that would be too easy. Now he was back to square one-

"Black?" He asked, suddenly realizing exactly what she had said. "Did you just say the vision you showed me wasn't a memory?"

 _ **Yes.**_ She answered simply.

"Do you think you could do it again? Show me what he's seeing now?" Keith asked, hopeful of anything else that could help him save the real Shiro.

 _ **He is… remembering something.**_ Black purred, sounding as if she was concentrating hard to pull something through her mental link with Shiro.

A single image appeared in Keith's mind. It was from Shiro's perspective again, but instead of being tied to a chair, he was sprawled on the floor. Keith forced himself to experience the image objectively. He couldn't spiral down into the shaking mess he had before. If he was going to do something useful, he needed to keep a clear head.

Keith analyzed the image, trying to figure out anything useful about Shiro's location or wellbeing, but then he noticed something different about the girl crouched in front of Shiro. She wasn't dressed the same. That was odd. This memory couldn't have been more than a couple of vargas before Keith's first vision of Shiro happened, but the girl was dressed completely differently. And her behavior - she wasn't talking to Shiro like she was before, just looking at him critically. She was analyzing him like a soldier would.

Keith frowned. What had made his mind jump directly to soldier this time when it hadn't before?

He could hear Black rumbled in his mind when he finally realized.

She was wearing armor.

 _Galra_ armor.


	4. Chapter 3

For the first moments after waking, nothing made sense and everything hurt. Shiro could feel a chair underneath him, but this place didn't seem right. Through the haze that was his mind, Shiro seemed to remember being somewhere else. Maybe, but wasn't he sitting on the ground last time? Yes, he was sure of it now. He was sitting on the floor last time and there was... there was someone else with him, a girl? Yes! He surged forward as his eyes flew open at the vivid mental image his mind had conjured, only to be jolted back with a shout of pain by the loose restraints he only just noticed binding him to the chair he was sitting in.

This was wrong, he thought, looking around the room he was in and down at his restrained limbs. Last time he had been somewhere more empty, like a cargo hold, but he could clearly remember he had been free to move, though it had hurt like hell whenever he had tried. Experimentally, he moved again, slower this time. It still hurt, but not as much as the shock of agony he had experienced when he had first jolted awake.

Shiro looked down to see what was binding him to the chair, only to realize his right arm wasn't shackled with the same loose bindings as the rest of his limbs, in fact it wasn't bound at all. There was a loose shackle dangling from the chair arm and a couple of wires leading to a side panel, but other than that it was completely free. Hopeful, he tried to move it but failed. He tried again, concentrating hard, trying to make the stupid hunk of Galra robotics attached to his bicep move, flex, do anything, but it refused every command.

"Why won't you work?" He growled at the arm in a mixture of anger and confusion. Shiro took a breath, knowing everything would be clearer once he had calmed down. He managed to slow his breathing a little, but the confusion refused to go away. A few moments later, he looked down at his arm again, craning his neck at different angles to try to see the whole thing. He was no engineer, but it didn't look damaged; even the panel that had been removed looked like it had been designed to be taken off. Maybe if... He mentally trailed off. There had been a name on the tip of his tongue, someone who would be able to fix whatever was broken inside his arm, but he just couldn't remember.

Shiro leaned his head back, trying to think through the pain and confusion that had been his constant companion since waking. His arm wasn't working, but it wasn't damaged, so it must have just been offline. Now the question was who deactivated it, and there was only one possibility, that girl he had seen. It was the only thing that made sense, she must had tied him to this chair and shut off his arm, but... something in him didn't quite believe it. For some reason, there was a part of his brain that kept telling Shiro he was safe, that she wanted to help him, but it was all so hazy that nothing made sense.

Pulled out of his confusion by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, Shiro turned all his attention to the doorway just off to his left. Moments later, the girl he had seen before walked purposefully into the, attention focused on a pad in one hand and a small device and a couple of wires in the other. She didn't look exactly the same as she had in Shiro's memory, but it was close enough and he needed answers.

"You!" He shouted, despite the ringing it caused in his ears. "What the hell did you do to me? Why am I tied up? Who are you?"

Shiro's barrage of questions caused the girl to look at him in surprise, then move towards him with a look of intense concern in her eyes.

"Shiro!" She exclaimed, crouching down in front of his chair and tossing the equipment she had been carrying aside to lean closer in an attempt to examine his face more closely. When she tried, Shiro jolted back violently, not wanting anything to come close.

The girl breathed in sharply at his reaction, retreating carefully like you would back away from a wild animal, but her intense gaze didn't leave is face.

"Shiro, I'm not going to hurt you, I want to help you." Her voice had softened a bit but carried the same intensity. "What do you remember? Do you remember me?"

She was acting like Shiro should know her, or remember something important, but he didn't. The only memories he could pull through the haze were of waking up in that other room with her in front of him, just as she was now.

"You were here before" Shiro said slowly, as if waiting for the girl to confirm or deny the statement. She nodded as he continued. "We were somewhere else, and- and my arm- what did you do to it?" He finished in a rush, the anger and confusion coming back into his voice.

The girl put her hands up in front of her in a placating gesture. "I had to deactivate your arm. I'll turn it back on later. Now _please_ Shiro, you need to tell me what you remember. This is really important. What do you remember about Voltron?"

She looked sincere, but there was something about her that made him wary. There was something in her face that said to trust her, but that thing was so small it was easy for his rational mind and survival instinct to ignore.

He hesitated, and she took it as a refusal.

"Damnit Shiro!" She slammed her hands into the chair arms in frustration, almost hitting him. The calm demeanor slipped for a moment and Shiro recoiled in his chair. There was a look in her eyes that terrified him despite himself.

"I know you don't trust me, but we don't have time for this. What. Do. You. Remember. About. Voltron." Shiro could tell she was fighting to keep her voice calm.

He struggled to do as she asked, but his instincts started to scream that something was wrong as soon as he tried to tell her anything about Voltron. His mind was blank. He knew he should be able to talk about Voltron; Shiro could sense that it was one of the most important things in his life, but he just couldn't.

There must have been a panicked expression spreading across Shiro's face because the girl's eyes widened.

"Nothing." He finally said in a small, scared voice.

The girl cursed under her breath.


	5. Chapter 4

"You have GOT to be kidding me. You don't remember anything?" Shiro shook his head quickly, very wary of this girl's sudden bouts of anger and emotion. The girl threw her hands up in frustration as she pushed away from Shiro's chair.

"Do you how rare it is to get almost complete amnesia?" She said, annoyed, as she kicked a bulkhead. Shiro started at the sharp noise. "It almost _never_ happens." She turned to pick up the device and wires she had put aside earlier. "First you forgot about when you were Champion, and now..." She muttered under her breath, trailing off. She had turned around at this point and was messing with something on a console, the small noises as she pressed keys almost enough to cover up her words, but Shiro still heard.

At first, he was confused. The amnesia part made sense, it explained why everything was just on the tip of his tongue, but Champion? If there was one thing he was reasonably sure of it was that his name was Shiro. Even though he had no idea about his connection to the name, it sent a shiver up his spine. _Champion. Champion. Champion. Champion._ Shiro ran the name over in his mind, wondering why the simple word made his stomach twist up so much. _Champion. Champion. Champion._

Then he remembered. Not much, but enough to make panic rise in his chest. The arena. The matches. The killing. Every memory he had struggled so hard to deal with before, hit him in full force all at once.

Luckily there was something rational in Shiro's head that wasn't in full on panic mode.

"How did you know?" He managed, the rational part of his mind trying it's best to keep down the panic. "I didn't even remember... That. How could you?"

The girl tensed and the soft string of curses that came from her mouth confirmed that she had slipped. She hadn't meant for him to hear that.

"Tell me!" He shouted, an angry movement causing the shackles binding him to the chair to rattle. Now Shiro thought hard, combing any memory he could grasp for this girl, thinking maybe he had seen her before somewhere. Then a memory came into his conscious mind, flashing into existence.

"I remember something." Shiro said. The girl turned, probably hoping he remembered Voltron for whatever reason, and Shiro was sure. "You were there before. When I woke up the first time. I remember you were there."

"Yes, I was. You were in the cargo hold." The girl looked wary.

"You're Galra." Shiro said with deathly certainty in his voice.

"If I was Galra, why would I be helping you?" He voice was calm and surprisingly quiet, but was still more than icy enough to send shivers running down Shiro's spine. "Don't you think if I was Galra you would be locked in some tiny dark cell being tortured or experimented on?" The unspoken _just like last time_ hung in the air between them.

"It's a trick! An illusion! A trap! Something!" Shiro said angrily. The girl didn't respond, only looked at him like she understood his lack of trust, but was refusing to say anything about it. "You were wearing Galra armor!" Shiro practically yelled, the memory a vivid image in his head only clarified as he actually spoke the words.

The girl stiffened, hatred filling her eyes. Setting her hands on the chair arm just inches from his own, she pushed her face close to his and stared into his angry gray eyes. She saw distrust there, but there was more than that. The anger that had flared up was covering fear and almost out of control panic. There was such panic lying just under the surface that it almost made her rethink her plan. Almost, but not quite.

Shiro tried to pull away from the girl, but there was nowhere to go. She held his gaze for what felt like an eternity. She didn't have the purple eyes of a Galra, but it didn't even matter at this point. There were other races working with the Galra that were just as dangerous as the real thing. Shiro knew it would have scared him less if she actually had Galra eyes, at least then he would have known something useful about her, but he didn't. She was a complete unknown, and that terrified him.

Thankfully, the girl had stopped staring at him and focused her attention on his robotic arm, which was still sitting useless on the chair arm. Her fingers flew as she manipulated controls Shiro didn't even know were there. It was obvious she knew the Galra tech extremely well. Shiro had started to think of all the different things she could possibly do to it, when the arm flashed hot for a second. It was the first sensation he had felt in the arm since waking up and looked down at it, startled. The girl was unfazed by his reaction, prodding the inner wrist of the arm with a small tool. A moment later, a panel opened, reveling the inner workings of the arm.

She started attaching wires to the arm and connecting them to the tablet she was holding. The girl typed on the tablet's screen for a few minutes, brow furrowed in concentration, before she stopped typing, apparently done with whatever she had been doing. It was only then that she looked Shiro in the face.

It was now Shiro's turn to stare at her, eyes pleading. "Just tell me what you're doing. Just tell me why!" His voice had started off quiet and strong, but Shiro had ended statement much louder than he had intended, fear edging into his voice.

"I need Voltron. I need you to get it." She finally said as she continued working on his arm. She completely ignored Shiro's shocked expression as he imagined all the horrible scenarios that could result from someone like this girl having even partial control of Voltron.

"Why!" Shiro demanded, "what do you want with Voltron?"

The girl ignored him, plugging one last wire into his arm before beginning to tap on the screen of the small device in her hands.

"I knew it! You're Galra! Only a Galra soldier would want Voltron like that!" Shiro yelled trying in vain to get some kind of response from the girl, even if it was the anger he had seen before.

She said nothing.

"Whatever this is, don't do it! Let me go!" Shiro yelled, beginning to struggle against the bindings holding him to the chair.

The girl pressed one final button on the device. Slowly but surely, a burning pain began to spread from his arm to the rest of his body. As his vision started to fade.

"I'm sorry Shiro." The girl's voice floated through the rapidly darkening haze.

It was the last thing her heard before everything went dark.


	6. Chapter 5

Keith could feel his entire world drop out from under him, just like the day he had first been told of the failed Kerberos mission. Just like the day he had found out what had really happened to Shiro when he was captured by the Galra. Just like the day he had disappeared, leaving the paladins of Voltron with nothing more than an empty cockpit.

Shiro was captured by the Galra. Again. And they left him out there. Alone. Was he still even hoping for rescue?

Keith's thoughts turned from a cascading jumble to a razor-edged determination in a single thought. He didn't care if he would have to go up against the Galra empire or the entirety of team Voltron. He would get the real Shiro back, and to do that, he would have to take down the clone and Keith couldn't very well do that in his room. He needed to get a grip on himself and get out of there. He needed a plan.

The next time Keith saw Shiro, the fake Shiro, he was in full on strategy mode. He told himself he had to disconnect, he had to keep a cool head, but sometimes just looking at the imposter was enough to send his thoughts spiraling down into a dark place where only a soft purr from Black could bring him back to his senses.

Without even really realizing it, Keith had slipped back into the persona he had acquired after he had been kicked out of the Garrison, the moody loner. The only difference was that this time, he had the rest of team Voltron to worry about him. The whole time tried to get through to him in their own way, but Keith didn't notice. He was entirely focused on the only semblance of a plan he could come up with, expose the imposter and find the real Shiro. Even Keith would admit it wasn't much of a plan, but it was all he had.

About a day of Keith being quiet and reserved was all it took for Shiro (the imposter) to decide to be a leader and confront him outside the training room. He was standing outside the door when Keith emerged from over 2 hours of murdering training bots, with his Bayard, his knife, his fists, anything.

"The team's worried about you, Keith." The imposter said, sounding so much like the real Shiro it made Keith's stomach churn and forcing him to lean into Black's consciousness for comfort. "The others have been trying to get through to you, but the direct approach has always seemed to work best with you."

 _They had?_ Keith wondered, frowning slightly.

"You didn't even notice, did you?" The imposter said with Shiro's laugh.

Keith shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets, knowing he needed to give some sort of response. "I'm fine."

Keith knew Shiro wasn't satisfied with his answer, but he didn't really care. At least he gave some sort of excuse and a brief goodbye before leaving. That was the normal thing to do, wasn't it?

As soon as he was out of sight, Black's angry growl filled his mind. Keith could feel how angry she had been at the imposter throughout the entire conversation, and Keith shared her feelings.

 _We need a new plan._ Keith thought to her. _We can't let on that something's wrong, and apparently, I'm easier to read than I thought._

 _ **You cannot do this alone, Paladin.**_ Black's voice entered Keith's mind in a warm purr. He agreed with her; even his lone wolf tendencies couldn't keep him from seeing how difficult it would be to expose someone posing as the leader and most trusted member of team Voltron. The only problem was the person Keith would always go to for help was Shiro, and that wasn't an option.

Suddenly an image filled Keith's mind. Black was showing him the green lion and Pidge. _**Green's Paladin would help you,**_ Black told him.

 _Pidge..._ Keith thought, considering the option for a moment before realizing she was the perfect choice. If he could just pique her interest, Pidge would be too curious not to help him. Really hoping he didn't get something thrown at him for disturbing her work, Keith turned down the corridor and started towards Pidge's lab.

* * *

It didn't go well. He had just asked if she had noticed anything different about Shiro since his return and she had said no. That would have been that, but Keith needed her help so badly he pushed forward, and Keith had never been good at subtly.

 _"Shiro's an imposter." Keith said simply in response to Pidge's barrage of questions asking him why he was asking if there was anything different about Shiro. He could see the disbelief in Pidge's eyes, how quickly it turned to anger._

 _"You think he's a what?" She demanded. "Why would you possibly think that? What evidence do you have?"_

At least Pidge had been willing to listen to his evidence (he doubted any of the others would have), but apparently the visions Black had shown him weren't enough.

 _"Keith, we have no evidence that the lions can do anything like what you described." The analytical part of her brain had taken over. "You got knocked out and then refused to go to the infirmary. You could've had a head injury. How are you sure any of what you saw was even real?"_

 _"Think about it Pidge! It all makes sense." Keith pleaded. "Shiro has been making bad calls ever since he got back. The last mission was Shiro's idea and it was his orders that almost got us all killed. He's made bad calls before, but never like this." Keith could see the wheels turning in Pidge's mind, so he pressed kept talking. "Shiro escaped too easily Pidge, and you know it. He only escaped the Galra the first time because he had the Blade of Marmora' help. This time he did it all by himself without a scratch. He only got away because they let him."_

 _"That's not evidence, Keith. Until you get some, get out." Pidge told him with the stubbornness of an angry brick wall, ending the conversation."_

Now, Pidge and Keith were pointedly not looking at each other during that evening's mission briefing.

It annoyed Keith that Pidge hadn't believed him, but he didn't really blame her for it. She still hadn't found her brother Matt, so it made sense that she was so unwilling to believe she had lost someone else she cared about without even knowing it. She would need more proof.

Keith pushed that thought away with an internal sigh. There was a mission tomorrow, a risky plan that could easily get them all killed (designed by the imposter Shiro), and none of the others could see it's potential for disaster. He couldn't afford to be worrying about how to get Pidge to help him out. He had to focus on making sure none of the Paladins died tomorrow.


End file.
